The Performing Arts Department’s performance of “Ipi Zombi?” will be characterized by a series of firsts. In addition to being the PAD’s first production of the new year, it will be the first in recent memory directed by an undergraduate (senior Pushkar Sharma), and it will be the first play in several seasons to come from a non-Western playwright. Written by Brett Bailey, a white South African, “Ipi Zombi?” (or “Where are the zombies?”) begins with the true story of a 1995 bus crash that left 12 school children dead in the town of Kokstad. The play’s focus becomes the event’s aftermath. In the wake of the tragedy, a mob led by student activists executes two elderly women, believing they are witches whose nefarious supernatural powers caused the crash.
While the plot may appear to resemble Arthur Miller’s famous work about the Salem witch trials, Sharma wanted to emphasize the differences between “Ipi Zombi?” and plays such as “The Crucible.” For Sharma, a double-major in drama and international studies, “Ipi Zombi?” is less a play in the traditional European sense than it is a “performance piece.” Running just over an hour long and featuring song, chant, dance and African step, the play looks and feels little like a canonical Western performance.
“It’s very spectacle-oriented,” Sharma said. “I’m trying to bring some energy into the theatre community, something different from [2004’s] ‘The Awakening’ and [2003’s] ‘Three Sisters.'”
Rather than continue to put on plays such as these – that run over three hours and are written by highly recognizable names – the PAD has been looking to do something new.
“They’re always looking for non-Western plays,” said Sharma. “I’m just the person taking them up on the offer.”
Its short length should not be confused with a sparse production. The play features a cast of 14 actors. Cecil Slaughter, lecturer in the PAD’s dance program, choreographed the production, while Annamaria Pillegi, senior lecturer in the PAD, served as project advisor. The play is cosponsored by the African American Studies Program.
Though “Ipi Zombi?” may not neatly fit into the Western canon, Sharma believes its themes are particularly germane to the current Western social and political climate.
“It’s a play about what happens when fear takes over a community,” he said. “I feel we’re in a similar situation. It’s not about rural stupidity or backwards people. It’s a tale about a community, any community. It could be our community. [In the United States] we had a Sikh man in Arizona killed four days after 9/11, just shot. Fear is so powerful it takes over and causes further pain.”
“Ipi Zombi?” will be performed at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., Jan. 27 and 28 and Feb. 3 and 4, and at 2 p.m. Sun., Jan. 29 and Feb. 5. A post-show discussion with the cast and production staff will follow the Saturday performances.